Johnny Depp’s Tonto a leader not a Lone Ranger follower

SANTA FE, N. M. – Even in this laid-back tourist town, Johnny Depp is being tracked by the media.

Instead of a big city ‘stalkerazzi’ mentality, the local shutterbugs act more like ‘peekerazzi’ as a few politely try to grab a picture of Depp.

The 50-year-old is back in New Mexico to promote The Lone Ranger, a high-concept western (opening July 3) based on the 1950s TV show.

The cast and crew spent months in and around the New Mexico frontier shooting the $200-million US movie, so returning here seemed like a good idea.

The unwanted media attention, however passive, comes with the fame territory, and the Oscar-nominated actor seems resigned to enduring it whether he’s in L. A. or New York or the most elevated state capital (around 7,000 feet) in the U. S.

“I’m used to living like a fugitive now, so it doesn’t really matter,” says a smirking Depp with key Lone Ranger cast and crew members at Bishops Lodge Resort, a five-mile gallop north of Santa Fe.

“Anonymity, yes I remember it. It ain’t there no more. Would I trade it (for something else)? I don’t know. I like my life.”

And why wouldn’t he? When Depp hints that he wants to play Tonto in a blockbuster, a studio jumps in to make it so.

In the origins yarn, it’s not a surprise that Depp’s Tonto is the focus of the ol’ west action flick.

An oddball banished from his tribe, Tonto discovers John Reid, soon to be The Lone Ranger (Armie Hammer), after the city slicker Reid gets ambushed along with a posse of Texas Rangers that includes his brother (James Badge Dale).

Left for dead, Reid ends up the only survivor thanks to Tonto and a wild white stallion soon to be named Silver. When Tonto convinces Reid to wear a mask as the Lone Ranger, he eventually agrees. That’s when the duo join forces to seek revenge against the bushwhackers.

British actress Ruth Wilson makes her Hollywood movie debut playing the widowed wife of The Lone Ranger’s brother and Canadian actor Barry Pepper plays a vain Cavalry captain being manipulated by the local power brokers.

A mix of comedy and occasional drama, The Lone Ranger is a western with a post-modern wink toward modern audiences and their new millennium cinema expectations.

Certainly, a redo of The Lone Ranger seemed like a 21st century stretch. The antiquated story of the masked lawman and his faithful Native sidekick began as a 1930s radio show then morphed into a cornball 1950s TV series with a few B-movie spinoffs thrown in for good measure (as well as comic strips, animations, books, graphic novels and video games).

But Depp says that he felt like he was in good hands during the updated transformation to the big screen.

After all, he was reuniting with the Pirates of the Caribbean team; power producer Jerry Bruckheimer, director Gore Verbinski and screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Russio.

Together, they rejuvenated the pirates genre with four popular Captain Jack productions which earned more than $3.7 billion US in theatres world wide.

Still, Depp says that he was keenly aware of his challenge portraying the iconic Tonto, previously considered a symbol of disrespect. To counter that impression, Depp made sure Tonto is a leader, not a follower, in The Lone Ranger, while offering his Native’s stilted English more as a comedy device than a salute to the past.

“The idea of some repercussion from my playing Tonto – I expected it,” Depp says. “So long as I know that I have done no harm and have represented, at the very least the Comanche nation, in the proper light…I’m OK.

“People can critique and dissect and do what they want, but I know that I approached (Tonto) in the right way and that’s all that I can do.”

To ensure that he was on the correct track, he met with Comanche elders and assorted Native chiefs before filming to discuss the impact of portraying the character.

Certainly, his family’s Native heritage wouldn’t allow him to drift into spoof. “I was told I was Cherokee as a kid. I was told I was Creek as a kid and Chickasaw. I’ve always had a fascination and a connection, so this film’s a great opportunity to chip away a little bit at the (Tonto) cliche.”

Mostly new to Depp were the ol’ west activities. He attended a frontier boot camp (with Hammer, Fichtner and Wilson) for a few weeks where he learned how to ride a horse, fire a gun, wield a knife, and generally present himself as a Native of that time.

In fact, it was critical that all the actors get it right, not just Depp as Tonto and Hammer as The Lone Ranger.

Unlike the CGI-dominated Pirates pictures, Verbinski’s insisted that they film The Lone Ranger using as many exteriors as possible while framing real action amid the backdrop of the exotic American southwest desert-and-mountain vistas.

The director also had some fun filming important moments in his movie at Utah’s famous Monument Valley where John Ford shot most his classic oaters (Stagecoach the first in a long series) and Fossil Point remembered as the site in which Thelma & Louise drive off a cliff at the climax.

“It was really hard and dangerous, and it’s kind of a lost art,” says Verbinski of shooting on location. “My respect for everybody who worked on westerns has gone way up.”

Depp agrees, especially about the dangerous part. He was nearly trampled when he fell off his horse during one sequence but survived with minor injuries and a bruised ego.

It’s all in a day’s work. Pushing the career envelope is what he likes to do, and portraying Tonto in The Lone Ranger continues the trend.

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